


i'm a dead girl walking

by the_bisexual_disaster



Series: kat's classy fics (tm) [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crack, Established Relationship, F/M, Hospitals, SO, Sleepwalking, arya's a sleepwalker, discussions of mental wellbeing, don't question the title i needed to call it something, fr tho this started as a crack prompt then turned to some slightly heavy angst, including a wall that proved to be her downfall, the ramblings of a college kid at 1am, who fights anything in her path
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:15:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24925243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_bisexual_disaster/pseuds/the_bisexual_disaster
Summary: Arya had been sleepwalking since she was a teenager, but the fighting inanimate objects in her sleep was a recent development. Gendry found it amusing some nights, concerning some nights, and annoying other nights. He hated being woken at the ungodly hours she got out of bed, but followed her anyways just to be sure she didn’t hurt herself too badly. She would forever be grateful to him for that.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: kat's classy fics (tm) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815244
Comments: 14
Kudos: 71





	i'm a dead girl walking

**Author's Note:**

> heyo!!! i know its like 1am and i have 4297892 other things to do this week but this was brought up in the gendrya writers tumblr chat and i couldn't not write it so here we are!  
> shoutout to @onefail-at-atime and @thetruthisinthetooth for coming up with the prompt and some hysterical dialogue for this (i'm sorry i didnt use it all. the angst fueled me :/) and shoutout to my wife who is partially responsible for this <3  
> title from dead girl walking from heathers

When Arya woke up, it was still dark out and she was lying flat on her back, on the floor, staring up at her boyfriend.

She groaned. “What was it this time?”

“A broom,” Gendry said, offering her a hand up. “From what I gather, it was a formidable foe.”

“Shut up.”

“As m’lady commands.”

Arya had been sleepwalking since she was a teenager, but the fighting inanimate objects in her sleep was a recent development. Gendry found it amusing some nights, concerning some nights, and annoying other nights. He _hated_ being woken at the ungodly hours she got out of bed, but followed her anyways just to be sure she didn’t hurt herself too badly. She would forever be grateful to him for that.

Two nights later, Arya woke to a loud crash and a shriek. It took her several moments to realize the crash was from a chair falling over and the shriek was her as she fell with it. Before she could comprehend what had happened, Gendry was pulling her off of the floor and righting the chair.

“What was it this time?” he asked.

Arya shook her head. She could never remember her dreams, no matter how hard she tried. For all she knew, the chair could’ve been Gendry himself in her dream.

“Come on,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get back to bed.”

Arya yawned and let him lead her back to their room.

For the first time in ages, Arya finally awoke in her own bed. It was still dark out, but she had grown used to waking up before the sun and falling back asleep not long after. 

She turned her head and saw Gendry staring at her with a mask of thinly veiled worry.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He leaned forward and turned on the lamp on the nightstand by his side of the bed. She frowned. _He never turns on the light._

Then, she saw the state of the bedroom. Feathers were strewn across the bed and the floor. The majority of them, she noticed, were piled on her chest and arms, along with the covering for the pillow. 

“What th- what the _fuck_ happened?” she demanded.

“I don’t know, you tell me!” he exclaimed.

“I don’t- I don’t remember.” Her voice became small and she curled up into a ball. 

She heard him sigh and after a moment, the light clicked off and she felt him lay down beside her.

“C’mon,” he muttered, gently pulling her down with him. “Don’t worry about it. Go back to sleep.”

“I think… I’m gonna stay up for a little bit,” she said softly as she got up from the bed, not looking back to see if he followed her.

Before long, the sky was tinged with the oranges and pinks of the sunrise and Gendry was awake and getting ready for work. 

Arya was woken, yet again, in the middle of the night. This time, she was woken by a shock up her arm and pain in her wrist. This time, she was standing, and Gendry was standing to her left, looking at her with disappointment.

She looked down at her hand, which was still against the now damaged wall. She drew her hand back and held it gingerly against her chest, her wrist throbbing with pain. 

“I think we need to go to the hospital,” she told him.

He sighed in annoyance. It was, after all, the middle of the night. Still, he went, grabbed their phones and jackets as well as an ice pack for her wrist. He draped her jacket over her shoulders as he passed to grab his keys off the table. 

The car ride to the hospital was tense for reasons that Arya’s tired mind couldn’t comprehend. Gendry’s hands were clenched tight around the steering wheel and he had the frown that he always wore whenever he was deep in thought. Usually, she’d laugh and poke fun at him for it, but now she just felt sad. He hadn’t said a word since she woke up. It wasn’t unusual for him to be quiet for long periods; he wasn’t one to engage in much social conversation. Arya thought she was different. Even when he was overwhelmed and unable to speak, she was able to get at least a simple answer out of him, even if it was just a nod. She was one of the few people he trusted and he was one of the few people she trusted. 

She tried to get his attention.

“Gendry.”

He remained silent, focused only on the road ahead of him.

“Gendry, talk to me.”

Nothing.

“What’s wrong, love?”

Still nothing.

Finally, she sighed in defeat. He didn’t want to talk to her right now.

The waiting room at the nearby hospital was graciously empty, or as empty as a hospital waiting room could be. There was the odd midnight accident that didn’t require a trip to emergency and a sick child huddling close to her mother, but little else. 

Arya was fortunate it was her right wrist that she hurt, considering she was left-handed. However, she was one second away from giving all the medical forms to Gendry and having him fill them out for her. It was embarrassing having to admit that she needed a late night trip to the hospital because she hit a wall too hard while she was sleeping. She would’ve done it had he been talking to her, but he wasn’t even looking at her and she was starting to get worried.

_Did I do something, and that’s why he’s mad at me? Did something happen that’s so bad he didn’t want to tell me? Does he not trust me anymore?_

The thoughts rushed through her mind as they sat and waited. She browsed through her social medias from time to time, but since it was 1:30 in the morning, no one was online and her feed was dead. Eventually she fell back asleep, her head on Gendry’s shoulder.

She swore she could see the beginnings of morning when her name was finally called. Gendry grabbed her jacket, which she shed long ago, and her ice pack, which had since melted and grown warm, and followed Arya and the nurse to an examination room, where they were told a doctor would come in a few minutes.

Once the nurse left, she tried talking to him again.

“Please, tell me what’s wrong?”

“Who said anything was wrong?” he finally replied.

“You aren’t saying anything.”

“What is there to say?”

“I don’t know! Something, anything!” She knew her voice was getting too loud and they were probably drawing attention to themselves, but she didn’t care.

“Fine! You want me to say something? I see how little you sleep now because you’re… what? Afraid? Embarrassed? Gods, Arya, I don’t even know, but I do know it’s getting out of hand and you’re letting it! You haven’t once asked for help or even acknowledged this was a problem and now you’ve hurt yourself! How much longer will this go on before something bad happens to you?

“I can’t always be there to stop you; tonight told us that much. I know I’m scared of something happening and I think you are too, so stop being too proud to seek help!”

By the end of his speech, he had tears running down his cheeks. He sniffled and went to kneel before where she sat on the exam table, grasping her good hand in both of his.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt. I don’t want to see you scared. I don’t want to see you keep doing this to yourself.”

She wiped tears of her own away with the sleeve of her shirt and kneeled down to hug him. He held her tightly and buried his head in her shoulder.

“I love you,” he said. “I love you so much.”

“I know,” she replied, her voice breaking. “I love you too. I’ll get help, I promise.”

“But not tonight,” he demanded. He pulled away all too quickly and she missed the warmth of him against her, but the doctor had come in. They must have been a sight, crying on the floor holding each other, but once again, Arya didn’t care. Gendry didn’t hate her and her wrist would end up being fine in a few weeks and she would get help. She would. She’d been living like this for too long. 

They hadn’t even begun planning and she didn’t even know where to start. She asked Gendry once they were alone again and he suggested they ask the doctor, who had some incredible advice for her and even wrote a referral.

That night, curled up tight against Gendry, Arya slept more soundly than she had in years.


End file.
